Sensex, Nifty remain sluggish; pharma stocks continue to bleed

Benchmark indices were sluggish during the afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty trading below by about half a percent.

The Sensex was down 138.42 points at 30432.55, while the Nifty was down 35.85 points at 9402.40. The market breadth, however, was negative as just 461 shares advanced against a decline of 2,100 shares, while 119 shares were unchanged.

Sun Pharma and Cipla were the top losers on both indices, while Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra, Eicher Motors and Hindalco gained the most.